Hundreds of students and youth organizers were arrested protesting the Keystone Pipeline XL outside the White House Sunday, CNN reported, acting out a human oil spill while expressing climate and environmental concerns over the proposed pipeline.

The Obama Administration continues to weigh approval of the $5.3 billion pipeline that would bring tar sands oil from Canada through six states. President Obama has said climate change needs to be at the forefront of the government's decision.

But as opponents worry that extracting tar sands oil emits 17% more of the carbon pollution that contributes to climate change than conventional oil production, and reinforces U.S. dependence on fossil fuels to the detriment of green alternatives, how does Browne make this case?

His point is that people find ways of getting oil where it needs to go, whether it be trains or other forms of transportation.

"Getting a simple pipeline, which works safely and securely and doesn't require lots of movements of different vehicles … that will be very good for the environment," he contends.

On that note of safety, Warren Buffett acknowledged to CNBC when it comes to his rail subsidiary BNSF, they "have found in the last year or so that it's more dangerous to move certain types of crude certainly than was thought previously." He said that rail cars carrying the oil will need to be made safer.

CNBC reported late last year that a North Dakota town had to be evacuated after a BNSF train transporting Bakken crude derailed and caught fire.

In addition to safer transport, Browne also tells us, "if we really want to change the amount of carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere, we have to look at how much coal we burn every single day -- that's the culprit. It's not oil or natural gas."

"Burning natural gas produces less carbon dioxide than burning any other hydrocarbon, so it's a very efficient way of producing electricity," he argues. "We need more, not less, and if there were a choice of leaving something in the ground, we should leave coal in the ground."

While the best option when it comes to energy would be renewables, Browne says costs need to come down for renewables to truly compete with oil and natural gas. He does see that happening and says technology needs to continue to improve in order to see a real change.